The scene is as you'd expect. Sergeants standing by the entrance, privates carrying out crowd control, and officers investigating the scene.

The outside of the building is rather dingy, caked with mildew among other blemishes. Inside isn't much better, shelves and tables stacked at least five feet high with laundry. Nearly every surface, including the floor, is littered with mothballs; their smell permeates the air. The door is wide open, thankfully, letting out some of the stench.

Lying on the floor, next to one of the counters, is the body of an older woman. Her head is wounded, the blood seeping into the mothballs under her head. Her neck is bruised, the outline of fingers offering a clear sign of strangulation. On the surface of the counter is a smear of blood, likely the point of contact.

Captains Rowan and Charlotte, and a recruit by the name of Allen Ryhnar, are the last to arrive. The soldiers fill them in on the evidence they've already found.
____________________________________________

Alright, all standard rules apply.

State your location in bold letters at the top of your post, and again each time you go somewhere else.

Take turns. Let everyone else reply before you make your next post. This is crucial to prevent an awkward time lapse.

The above image is a referral link to Nodiatis, an online RPG that I play.

It didn't take Allen long to catch up to Rowan. The man had ran quite a distance, at rather high speeds, yet he barely broke a sweat, regardless of his heavy plated armour. He stopped beside Rowan, taking his helmet off once more upon realizing that whatever happened, had already been done. He gazed around the area, looking at all the different guards and the closed off exits, then he glanced down at the crime scene, his eyes grew wide in horror.

His eyes met the lifeless orbs belonging to the woman, then they wandered to her purple wrinkled skin. Allen glanced at her head, noticing the blood trickling out, still rather fresh, then his eyes began moving down to the victims neck, in which it was clear to tell that she was choked rather aggressively, yet the cause of death was most likely related to the gash upon her head. "This poor woman." He murmured under his breath.

Allen glanced up at Rowan for a moment, before looking back down at the body. "I get the gist of the situation, this woman was murdered, and as far as we know there are no witnesses. Do we have any more leads, Chief?" Allen asked the man, still gazing down at the lifeless frame before him.

The first thing that came to Cpt. Charlotte's mind was the god awful stench that permeated in the slums. One of the reasons she never stepped foot into this side of town if she didn't have to. The short woman worked through it and trudged on, moving past civilians and guards a like. She didn't bare the usual guard armor but the sword and sash she wore told everyone just who she was. The woman's eyes scanned every inch of the corridor as she came across the makeshift store for clothing.

There laid an older woman, strangulation marks on her neck and a gash in her skull. The point of impact clearly the table that had blood on its counter." Damn shame, what do we have so far Captain Rowan? Anybody talking or claiming to see something?" Arcadia asked once she was done looking over the crime scene herself. Her skill set wasn't all that much when it came to these things as she was more of defender. She'd gotten a bit better at as time went by and she became one of the oldest on the force.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

An older gentleman, a commander, walks up to the trio, his face both hard and tired. "You're the two he was waiting on? Well then," he says, his voice raspy with age, "it appears that the blow to the head was the cause of death. It doesn't seem there was much of a struggle, so it must've been someone she knew. Furthermore, he's clearly on the violent side, given the fact that he strangled her before smashing her head into a counter," he explains to the latecomers.

"However, we have yet to do a thorough inspection, so your help would be much appreciated." With that, he shuffles off to do more work.

____________

Rowan listens carefully to the old man as he talks, nodding his approval when he asks for help. "Alright, let's get to work. Search the place from top to bottom. I want clues," he says, looking closely at the body. His gaze shifts to the floor around her, looking for a piece of fabric or any other signs. Shifting the mothballs, he spots a few small, black feathers.

Feathers? In a store? And they're greasy... he thinks, holding them. Strange...

Upon closer inspection he spots a few more, but only near the entrance. "I think I have something here," he calls out to the others.

The above image is a referral link to Nodiatis, an online RPG that I play.

Allen watched as Captain Charlotte approached, at first he was unable to see the large sword she carried with her, based on the angle she approached. "Hey! You can't co-" The man was about to shout at her to leave, until he was finally able to see the sword. "The man splitter..." He mumbled under his breath. Allen gazed at the woman as she walked by, and examined the body for herself, surprised at just how short she was, of course, Allen was rather tall himself, making the woman look even smaller.

Allen then turned his attention to the older male who approached, there was a certain wisdom about this man, presumably because he seemed much older than Allen. "What makes you so sure that it was a man who did this?" Allen asked, although it wasn't unlikely for a man to be the culprit, he just wanted to be sure that they would be looking for the right person. The man was about to argue his case when Rowan spoke up.

Allen turned, and quickly made his way towards Rowan. He gazed at the feathers in the mans' hands, trying to determine what was so special about them, he also noticed how greasy they were. Eventually Allen looked to see a trail of feathers leading to the door, knowing that this could mean only a few things. He looked at Rowan, giving the man a 'Bird man?' type look, yet he remained quiet, incase there were something more to it that Rowan had found.

It was very tempting to bite the head off of some recruit Arcadia hadn't seen before when he tried raising his voice to her. She'd make sure to keep an eye on him later, when it came to training he was in for it. It was interesting to say she hadn't ever seen him before, usually she handled the recruits. Did Rowan just hire the boy? Either way they had a murder to solve so the bit could wait for later. The woman listened to what her fellow guard had to say so far about what they found. It wasn't much but she was sure they had right.

When given the order Arcadia moved away from the body and looked through the rack of clothes. This lady seemed to have sold clothes for every social class. There were a few dresses that looked pretty high quality, even a few masks to match them. Slowly floating up Arcadia looked closely at the placements of the masks. There seemed to be a fine layer of dust beneath them all. Something was off though...upon looking a bit closer she found the dust disturbed where a mask used to sit. Had their killer purchased a mask from the woman before they killed her? The sound of Rowan's voice caught her ear and Arcadia floated over to him. Rowan seemed to have found a few greasy feathers on the ground with a path right to the door.

" Hmm...I think it's safe to say our killer is perhaps part bird or something. Seeing their kind is a bit rare so our suspect pool just got smaller. Hmm...I remember an incident with the Dragon's Scale guild awhile back. A Carrenwing tried posting a request using fake coins...I think his name started with an S.." Arcadia spoke trying to put the few pieces of the puzzle they had together. It wasn't her case so she didn't knkw the fellow, she only heard someone else talking about it. Certainly if it wasn't their guy they might know of others like him in the city. Birds of a feather do fly together after all.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

"It doesn't necessarily mean the suspect is part bird, but I won't ignore that possibility," he says to them, looking closely at the feathers. Black. Greasy. "We should also question individuals wearing black feather dresses or cloaks. Gods know it's quite easy to get your clothes grimy in this district. The filth is practically in the air."

Though, some individuals come to mind... he thinks. "Have you found anything, Charlotte?" he asks her, looking through the stacks of clothes. He notes that one of the piles looks as though it were recently disturbed. Possibly a robbery...

"Allen, check to see if she was robbed of coin."

The above image is a referral link to Nodiatis, an online RPG that I play.

Allen watched as Rowan and Captain Charlotte moved around the scene, inspecting various places with interesting clues as to what happened, in this case, Allen felt rather useless. He was a man of combat, and social situations, he wasn't one for investigating, he usually solved problems with his fists, or through cheer and drink. He didn't let his weakness get to the better of him, he would simply learn and better himself. The man did as he was asked, turning to the body of the victim, and kneeling down beside the woman. As he knelt Allen had to cover his nose from the stench, the old bag reeked, it was safe to assume she was rotting long before she died.

He began looking around for a coin purse, feeling about incase it was hidden. "I meant no offense when I called out to you, Captain Charlotte." Allen stated loud and clear as he did his search. "I simply did not know your face, I was only worried that you may have been a suspect, or someone just wandering in. I hope you'll forgive me." Allen looked up from the body of the woman, glancing over to where Captain Charlotte did her search. He gave the woman an apologetic, but friendly smile before he returned to his search.

As Allen continued investigating the body he found the same feathers that Rowan found in the woman's hands, which were also very greasy, same with the victims hands. He took one of the woman's hands, raising it towards his eyes. He glanced at her fingers, then gazed towards the woman's nails, there he saw a mixture of gunk, tissue and blood, as well as the same black fur that would be found on the feathers. Before bringing this to the Chief he continued looking for coins. Allen rolled the woman over, evidentially finding nothing.

Allen rose to his feet, and walked towards the counter, in which he started looking around for coin, a storage box, or anything of the like. "There are a few pieces of coin here and there. All of her items and possessions are still relatively neat, it doesn't look as though anything was stolen." Allen glanced up at Rowan. "However, I did find a rather odd combination of fur, and flesh beneath the victims finger nails." He stated, deciding it was time to report his findings.

Allen gazed around the shop one more time, he noticed an oddly placed pile of clothing, it didn't seem to fit in with the spot that it was in. The man walked over to the clothing, leaning over to pick up the blouse. "I think there was more than one person in here at the time of the murder." Allen murmured loudly. He brought the blouse towards his nose, taking a quick whiff, he smelled both sweat and a flower like fragrance. "These clothes reek of fear, Chief." Allen gazed up at Rowan with worried eyes. "I think the assailant has a captive."

Arcadia found herself nodding along with what the Captain said about keeping an open mind. The feathers could've come from a cloak of feathers or even some kind of dress. The woman eventually started floating a bit higher, checking out the shelves that were out of her reach. A small chuckle left her lips as the boy was apologizing for his sudden outburst when she arrived. It's true she didn't look like much of a guard, plus you can't blame a potentially fresh recruit who had never met her before. Which did beg the question why Rowan brought fresh meet to a crime scene.

" Don't worry about it kid. You get a free pass this time around. Welcome to the guard by the way." Arcadia stated as she turned to face the fresh recruit. He had a pretty face she'd give him that, might be fun to drink him under the table some time. After a few moments the woman floated by down onto the ground not finding anything thus far." Captain, there seemed to be a mask missing, dust was disturbed over there with all those fancy ones." Arcadia said pointing over towards the pile of masks she had been taking a look at earlier. This was turning into a pretty interesting case every second that went by.

Following the recruit, Arcadia looked over the clothes and tried to think for a momemt about what they found. It did sound like someone had been here at the time, a witness maybe? A customer at the wrong place and wrong time?" Think we could have a another victim? Possibly a witness taken to keep them from talking?" The female guard stated as she leaned against a wall trying to think of how things may have gone down. Stuff like that was up to the Captain when he was on the scene though.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.